The Spoilage (book)

JERS Director Dorothy Swaine Thomas received her B.A. degree from Barnard College in 1922 and two years later earned a Ph.D. from the University of London School of Economics. From 1924 to 1948, she worked at Yale University, the Carnegie Corporation, the Social Science Institute at the University of Stockholm, the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, and the University of California at Berkeley. Her coauthor was Richard Shigeaki Nishimoto, the only Issei to work as a full-time researcher for JERS. Nishimoto was born August 23, 1904, in Tōkyō, Japan, and at the age of 17, Nishimoto immigrated to the United States and joined his family who were living in California. In 1929, Nishimoto graduated from Stanford University with a degree in engineering but as he was unable to find a job because of his race, Nishimoto worked in different occupations. Eventually he operated his own fruit and vegetable market before he was incarcerated at Poston with his wife and two daughters. Recruited by Tamie Tsuchiyama who was already working for JERS, Nishimoto provided critical personal insights about the camps as he was an active community leader in Poston. ^[1]

The three major "laboratories" for the project were at Poston , Tule Lake, and Minidoka , but researchers also collected observations from five of the seven other War Relocation Authority administered concentration camps. One of the goals of the project was to examine the development of government regulations and to trace the impact of these policies on the attitudes, behaviors, and patterns of social adjustment upon the incarcerated population. To understand the impact of incarceration from the perspective of the inmates, many of the staff observers were inmates and as many as twelve Japanese Americans were employed as technical or research assistants in the camps, some with bilingual abilities. Although Thomas and Nishimoto do not provide the names of these individuals, later scholars have identified the names of these Japanese American personnel. ^[2] In addition, three Caucasian staff members resided in the camps and researchers kept a detailed journal of their experiences and collected various camp documents. The majority of the book’s content was based upon observations that Hankey made about Tule Lake from 1942 to 1945.

The Spoilage analyzes the experience of the Issei who returned to Japan after the war and the Nisei who relinquished their citizenship. As the authors explain: "It is thus concerned with the short-run spoilage resulting from evacuation and detention" as these individuals were stigmatized as disloyal, were confined to Tule Lake Center, and experienced repressive measures that resulted in their disillusionment and disaffection from America. Comprising thirteen chapters, the first four chapters of the book examine the removal, detention, and registration of Japanese Americans and the resulting administrative determination of "loyal" and "disloyal." Following these designations, some Japanese responded with strikes and violence resulting in the implementation of martial law that is analyzed in chapters five and six. Although some members of the camps would try to embrace an accommodationalist approach that is the focus of chapter seven, a period of apathy would lead to growing resentment, radicalization, revolt and ultimately the renunciation of American citizenship. These events are covered in the final six chapters that concludes with a statement from the authors:

Charged with no offense, but victims of a military misconception, they had suffered confinement behind barbed wire. They had been stigmatized as disloyal on the grounds often far removed from any criterion of political allegiance. They had been at the mercy of administrative agencies working at cross-purposes. They had yielded to parental compulsion in order to hold the family intact. They had been intimidated by the ruthless tactics of pressure groups in camp. They had become terrified by reports of the continuing hostility of the American public, and they had finally renounced their irreparably depreciated American citizenship. ^[3]

Ultimately, for these particular inmates, their experiences and their response to government policies that resulted in an inevitable outcome of disaffection becomes an unspoken theme throughout the narrative. Their designation of "disloyal," whether real or imagined, became a reality due to repressive government actions that left many with no other alternative but to embrace that designation and their alienation from America.

The publication of The Spoilage in the immediate postwar period coincided with the publication of other books on the subject of Japanese American incarceration and "disloyalty" including WRA: A Story of Human Conservation , the final report of D. S. Myer , director of the War Relocation Authority, the nine special reports published by that bureau, The Governing of Men by Alexander H. Leighton, and Prejudice by Carey McWilliams . While The Spoilage was positively received by many reviewers of the time and has shaped current understandings of post-segregation Tule Lake, scholars have acknowledged its various shortcomings.

Some of the most pointed critiques come from Marvin K. Opler , a community analyst at Tule Lake who critiqued Thomas and Nishimoto's tendency to rely upon the observations of one field worker, Rosalie Hankey, who was at Tule Lake when the "spoilage" of segregation occurred. Subsequently, Opler argues that "dependence upon one person for major contributions led, in turn, to undue credence afforded about two dozen factional leaders who happened to impress the fieldworker, during the year period." ^[4] Hankey remains a controversial figure as scholar Peter T. Suzuki has critiqued Hankey's actions for her lack of objectivity in describing the segregants and for her alleged betrayal of Ernest Kinzo Wakayama at Tule Lake. ^[5] Recently, Violet Kazue de Cristoforo , a former Tule Lake inmate has also accused Hankey of betraying her, relaying false information to WRA authorities, and causing her to be expatriated to Japan against her will. ^[6]

At the end of the book readers are left without learning the particular conclusions reached by the authors, an observation noted by reviewer Solon T. Kimball who explains, "There should have been an additional chapter which would share with us the sociological insights which the authors undoubtedly gained" as trained academics and sociologists. ^[7] Additionally, as the period of analysis ends in 1947, it is difficult to determine from the scope of information covered if the "spoilage" of these individuals was irreversible or, if in fact, some did come to regret the decisions made during the war. Scholar Yuji Ichioka , noting that The Spoilage is written in a "historical vacuum," points out the lack of "historical linkage between the pre-war past and the wartime present," thus restricting "explanations of behavior to the wartime present." ^[8] However, as an analysis of the information collected by JERS researchers from the camps during the war and an examination of the postwar implications for incarcerated Japanese Americans, this book remains an invaluable resource in understanding a critical period in America's history.

The Spoilage

This item has been made freely available in the Digital Library of Japanese American Incarceration , a collaborative project with Internet Archive .

" Finding Aid to the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Records, 1930-1974 (bulk 1942-1946) ." The Bancroft Library, University of California Berkeley.

Yuji Ichioka, ed., Views From Within: The Japanese American Evacuation And Resettlement Study . Los Angeles: Resource Development and Publications, Asian American Studies Center, University of California at Los Angeles, 1989.

Inouye, Karen. The Long Afterlife of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration . Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2016.

Suzuki, Peter. "The University of California Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study: A Prolegomenon." Dialectical Anthropology 10 (1986): 189-213.

Duncan, Otis Durant. Social Forces 25.4 (May 1947): 457-58.

Hewes, Lawrence I. Jr. Far Eastern Survey 16.6 (Mar. 26, 1947): 72.

Kimball, Solon T. American Journal of Sociology 53.3 (Nov. 1947): 229.

Konvitz, Milton R. Pacific Historical Review 16.2 (May 1947): 202-03.

Masaoka, Mike. "Washington Newsletter." Pacific Citizen , November 26, 1954, 2.

Smith, Bradford. Saturday Review , June 7, 1947, 20-21.

Tracy, Henry C. Common Ground (March 1947): 104-05.

Young, Kimball. American Sociological Review 12.3 (June 1947): 362-63.